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Missa Ave Maria

Introduction

The Missa Ave Maria was published posthumously by Palestrina’s son Iginio in the Missae Quinque, liber septimus of 1594, though it would appear that the book was all but ready for issue on the composer’s death. Baini characterized this Mass as ‘simple, devout, and very clear’ (in Memorie storico-critiche della vita e delle opere di Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Rome, 1828, reproduced 1966), and indeed these are perhaps the best words to describe the work. Derived from the well-known Ave Maria prayer (though Jeppeson thought it was built on a polyphonic model, Fogliano’s motet Ave Maria—see Acta Musicologica XVIII–XIX, 1946–7, and Gustav Reese: Music in the Renaissance, New York, 1954, revised 1959), the chant appears throughout the Mass very clearly. Its distinctive melodic shape is what gives the Kyrie its strongly profiled opening, for example, and even more that of the Credo.

In contrast to the De beata virgine Mass, Ave Maria relies much more in its construction on long melodic lines. In that it is in four parts rather than six, there is much less opportunity for a variety of contrasts of reduced scoring—this means that there are rather fewer lengthy passages of homophony. The melodic element in this Mass is most clearly shown perhaps at the ‘Crucifixus’, a long, sustained meditation, or in the Sanctus, whose long lines are taken over by the three-voiced ‘Pleni sunt caeli’.

The variety of mood in this setting is the more impressive for its relative overall brevity. Particularly memorable passages occur at the ‘qui tollis’—a quiet, dignified moment in an otherwise strong and monumental Gloria; the moving, hushed ‘Et incarnatus’ of the Credo; the breathtakingly beautiful Benedictus, and the long-breathed, spacious final Agnus Dei. To list all such details would be to give an idea of the astonishing resource of Palestrina in all his settings of the Mass text: that each setting is so distinctively different from the others is another reason for the continuous esteem in which the composer has been held from his lifetime onwards.

Recordings

In this album we find Westminster Cathedral Choir at the peak of their powers, performing masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance. These two magnificent and contrasting settings perfectly demonstrate why Palestrina has been acknowledged as the mas ...» More

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will. We praise you. We bless you. We adore you. We glorify you. We give you thanks for your great glory. Lord God, king of heaven, God the Father almighty, Lord, only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, Lord God, lamb of God, Son of the Father, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you who take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; you who sit at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For you only are holy. You only are Lord. You only are most high, Jesus Christ. With the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

I believe in one God, Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all visible and invisible things. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten son of God, born of the Father before all ages, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven. And was incarnate by the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary, and was made man. He was also crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, he died and was buried. And on the third day he rose again according to the scriptures. And ascended into heaven: he sits at the right hand of the Father. And he will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead: there will be no end to his kingdom. And in the Holy Spirit, Lord and giver of life: who proceeds from the Father and Son, who with the Father and Son is worshipped and glorified: who spoke by the prophets. And in one holy, catholic and apostolic church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.